Computing Machines and Computing

Computers and computing have become an essential part of our lives--both for work and play. It seems almost impossible today to accomplish any significant informational task without using computer processing. But, it was not always this way. Less than 75 years ago, the word "computer" denoted a person who performed calculations for pay. The rapid development of the modern digital computer system is worth an entire course, but we will consider the highlights in our first unit of study.

We will consider the early precursors for the modern age as well as the evolution of digital computing machines in the last century. Finally, we will look into the future and consider whether non-digital--i.e., quantum--computers are useful and even possible.

Readings

1. Babbage, Charles. Chapter VIII, “Of the Analytical Engine,” The Life of a Philosopher, 1864. (html)

2. Davis, Martin. “Mathematical Logic and the Origins of Modern Computers,” reprinted in Esther Phillips (ed.), MAA Studies in Mathematics Volume 26: Studies in the History of Mathematics, 1987.

3. Von Neumann, John. “First Draft of the Report on the EDVAC,” 1945. (reprint)

4. Ceruzzi, Paul E. "The Advent of Commercial Computing, 1945-56" in A History of Modern Computing, Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003, pp. 13-46. (See below.)

5. Ceruzzi, "Computing Comes of Age, 1956-64" in A History of Modern Computing, Second Edition, pp. 47-78.

6. Ceruzzi, "From Mainframe to Minicomputer, 1959-69" in A History of Modern Computing, Second Edition, 109-141.

8. Lopata, Paul. "Beyond Digital: A Brief Introduction to Quantum Computing," The Next Wave, Volume 20, No. 2 (2013), pp. 33-37.

Bacon, Dave and Wim Van Dam. "Recent Progress in Quantum Algorithms," Communications of the ACM (CACM), Volume 53, No. 2 (February, 2010), pp. 84-93. [ACM DL]

9. Tichy, Walter. "Is Quantum Computing for Real? An Interview with Catherine McGeoch of D.-Wave Systems," Ubiquity (July, 2017), pp. 1-20.

10. Bouland, Adam. "Establishing the Quantum Advantage," Crossroads: The ACM Magazine for Students, Volume 29, No. 1 (Fall, 2016), pp. 41-44.

Wang, Bingjie. "Quantum Algorithms for Machine Learning," Crossroads, pp. 20-24.

11. Courtland, Rachel. "Google Aims for Quantum Supremacy," IEEE Spectrum, (June, 2017), pp. 9-10.

Background Material

Aaronson, Scott. "The Limits of Quantum," Scientific American (March, 2008), pp. 62-69. (reprint)

Ceruzzi, Paul E. A History of Modern Computing, Second Edition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2003. (reprint)

Devitt, Simon J. "Programming Quantum Computers Using 3-D Puzzles, Coffee Cups, and Doughnuts," Crossroads, pp. 45-48.

Gershenfeld, Neil and Issac L. Chuang. "Quantum Computing with Molecules," Scientfic American (June, 1998), pp. 66-71.

Gibney, Elizabeth. "Physics: Quantum Computer Quest" Nature (December, 2014). (html)

Turing, A. M., “A Proposed Calculator,” 1945. (reprint)

Riefell, Eleanor ad Wolfgang Polak. "An Introduction to Quantum Computing for Non-Physcists," ACM Computing Surveys, Volume 32, No. 3 (September, 2000), pp. 300-335. (reprint)

Shor, Peter. "Polynomial-Time Algorithms for Prime Factorization and Discrete Logarithms on a Quantum Computer," (1996). (reprint)

Examples of influential computer systems

Clark, Wesley. "The Lincoln Laboratory TX-2 Computer Development," 1957 Western Computer Proceedings, pp. 143-145. (reprint)

Sutherland, Ivan. "The TX-2 Computer and Sketchpad," Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Vol. 19, No. 1, (2012), pp. 82-84. (reprint)

Vanderburgh, Alexander. "Appendix G: A Brief Description of TX-2," in Sutherland, "Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system," University of Cambridge Technical Report 574 (September, 2003), 137-140. (source)

Amdahl, G. M., G. A. Blaauw, and F. P. Brooks, Jr. "Architecture of the IBM System/360," IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 8, Issue 2 (April, 1964), 87-101. (reprint)

Gifford, David, and Spector, Alfred. "Case Study: IBM's System/360-370 Architecture," CACM, Vol. 30, No. 4 (April, 1987), pp. 292-307. (reprint)

Bell, Gordon C. "What Have We Learned From the PDP-11?" Perspectives on Computer Science: From the 10th Anniversary Symposium on Computer Science, Computer Science Department, Carnegie-Mellon University. NY: Academic Press, 1977, pp. 7-38. (reprint)

Putjorn, A. P. "Z80 Microprocessor Architecture" (pdf)

Hyde, Randall. "CPU Architecture," in The Art of Assembly Language Programming, Volume II: Machine Architecture. (2002), pp. 23-269. (pdf)

Vadja, A. "Multi-core and Many-core Processor Architecture," in Programming Many-Core Chips. Springer (2011), pp. 9-43. (pdf)